Living the frugal life

Growing up is hard to do. Responsibility sucks. Yada, yada, yada.

Being an adult and experiencing the pleasures of paying bills, cleaning the house, mowing the lawn, and balancing the checkbook sometimes makes me want to pull my hair out. I have a decent job with good pay, but I still feel the sting when the numbers on the gas pump creep up past that $40 range. With America whining about rising prices all across the board, I've forced myself to take a step back and challenge myself to save more and spend less. Hence, the following:

1. Stop buying clothes. Now, I'm not thinking about joining a nudist colony or anything, but I have been known to get a little too excited on payday and run to Target to browse their newest clothing line. Grant always gets so frustrated when I do this because, let's be honest, the quality of Target clothes has taken a large step down in the past 5 years. While their t-shirts may only be $6.99, they last just barely long enough to make it through the season. I'll allow myself to buy new clothes only when "needed", and even then, only what I need to get by. Even on a budget, I still have to look like a professional at work.
   
   
2. Analyze the basket before making it to the checkstand. This is one of my more successful efforts. First off, I like to use a hand basket whenever possible. If I grab a cart, chances are I'll fill it, and my credit card screams that much louder when I swipe it through. Second, once I've complete my rounds through the store, I stop for a minute and make sure that everything in my basket is justifiable. If the hot pink nail polish or the funky kitchen gadget doesn't make the cut, I'll survive.
   
   
3. Costco, Costco, Costco. I'm sure most people already understand the power of this wholesale giant, but when you're trying to save a penny here and there, Costco is like the Superhero of my bank account. The key here is, while you might pay more NOW, you're saving quite a bit by only having to do the shopping every couple of months instead of weeks. And those coupon books that they send out help you save that much more.
   
   
4. Eat at home. I love eating out. It's something that my family does a lot since it seems like we're always running from place to place. Once I started living on my own, I realized just how expensive it is to pay someone to cook, serve, and clean up after you. While grocery prices are going up just as much as gas prices, I still try to get creative with whatever I have sitting in my cabinets. Grant and I fully enjoy cooking meals together, so it's kind of a win-win situation.
   
   
5. Entertainment at home. There are lots of things that you can do at home for entertainment. Watch a movie on TV, play Blackjack with candy, put a piece of tape on your dog's back and watch her squirm. Okay, so that last one might not be very humane, but you get the point. Movies now cost almost $20 for two people just to watch. Add popcorn, drinks and candy and you're looking at double that. Grant and I bought a Nerf football at the beginning of summer and you'd be amazed at how long we can keep ourselves entertained...while getting a little exercise at the same time.

Okay, so a lot of this is common sense, but when I write it down, I feel much better knowing that I have enough sense to realize that there are easy ways to live the frugal life and not have to starve or bore yourself to death.

On the flip side, there are some things that I still can't get myself to skimp on:

1. Haircuts. Supercuts has ruined my hair more than once and I fully intend on spending the $25 or so every few months to make sure that my hair is styled uniformly.
   
   
2. Toilet paper. Cardboard is not acceptable for the job that toilet paper is built for. Hence, expensive toilet paper.
   
   
3. Cable/Internet. Yes, I am a twenty-something college graduate whose life would surely end if I could not watch Michael Phelps do the breast stroke on cable TV and then go online to read about it.
   
   
4. "Wellness" appointments. I like having white, straight teeth, eyes that can see and a body that doesn't keel over and die before I'm ready to go. Therefore, I am totally okay with paying doctors to tell me that everything is A-OK.
   
   
5. Having a life. I worked hard in college to have a job that would support me enough so that I didn't feel like I had to go to the food bank in order to survive. Being responsible with your money is important. Having a life is also important. If we decide to waste money on a romantic dinner that we don't have to cook, watch a movie on a screen bigger than the one in our living room and buy popcorn that wasn't made in our microwave....well, then, by golly we just might do that every once in a while. It may cost us a pretty penny, but there's nothing wrong with spoiling yourself on occasion and enjoying the heck out of it.

Dinosaurs and the creepy neighbor

Every once in a while, I have dreams that wake me up and I have a hard time making myself realize that it was, in fact, a dream. Last night, I had the craziest, longest, most vivid dream I've had since I was probably 6 years old and I dreamed that my school was on fire.

Last night, the world was invaded by dinosaurs. Laugh if you will, but it was incredibly real. What I first remember was me watching the news and the anchor was signing off with "God be with us." Then the floor started to rumble and I ran outside and this giant dinosaur foot came crashing down in our front lawn. It wasn't until then that Grant and I decided to pack up some things and start driving the heck out of there. I started packing a box of food and put two things in there: graham crackers and vodka. Good thinking, Raechelle. I grabbed Jersey and her ball, and the three of us crammed in my car heading for the freeway (not until after Grant was able to water the garden). As we pulled out of the driveway, I screamed, "Oh, s***, I forgot the peanuts!"

There are several things about that scenario that don't really make sense, but that's the glory of having dreams. I would love for someone to analyze that right there and tell me what it really means. The dream actually continued the entire night, despite me waking up repeatedly and checking outside to make sure the lawn was still in tact. They were all very similar, me screaming, Jersey shredding her rope, and Grant texting me that everything was going to be okay.

My last dream, and the one that woke me up for good this morning, had no mention of a dinosaur, but involved my creepy neighbor coming over and yelling at me. I can't remember what he was yelling about, but I remember after he yelled, I packed a box of old kids' clothes and put them on his doorstep, rang the doorbell and ran. It may have made more sense if I had left the box of graham crackers and vodka. Then again, maybe not.

Now, I'll be totally freaked out if Jurassic Park is on TV tonight.

The Planning Committee

As the summer draws closer to an end and life gets drastically less hectic, I decided to take some time for myself and planned a few trips to round out a busy season. Grant and I will be traveling to Boise on Labor Day weekend to visit his family and friends. I'm excited since road trips are generally a great time, especially when you're with someone who can make even the dullest situation seem like the county fair.

In September, we are going to spend a weekend up at Silver Mountain and try out their new water park that you can only enjoy if you spend the money to stay there overnight. While I don't particularly understand that marketing strategy, I think it will be a great time. Added Bonus: the temperature is guaranteed to be 82 degrees which is nothing to complain about.

After meeting with my planning committee (me, myself and I), we decided that I deserved a little time away from this beautiful state that often gets confused with Iowa or Ohio. So I booked a flight to Southern California in October. I'll get to see my wonderfully fantastic cousin as well as the girls that I lived with in Italy, so I'm preparing for an utterly wild and wacky time.

I found out today that, after all of this, I still have 3 whole days of comp time that I can do whatever I please with. I'm contemplating on what to do with those days, but I'm guessing that they'll probably get used during the holidays when I wake up after a long Christmas Day and decide that working on December 26th is just not in my agenda.

So I guess that I've decided that having a full time job is really not as horrible as some people make it out to be. I mean, yes, waking up every Monday morning and realizing that the weekend has come and gone isn't easy. But when I get to go on vacation and not have to forfeit some of my salary to do it, I'm a pretty happy camper. Now if I could just convince them that I deserve the empty office in the corner...

On a totally unrelated subject, we watched the Coeur d'Alene Triathlon last Saturday and took lots of pictures that, not surprisingly, look very similar to my pictures from Ironman. After going through all of them, my favorite picture turned out to be one that had nothing to do with the race.

I was sitting by the wall at the Cd'A Beach, hiding from the giant raindrops, and I looked over and saw all these feet hanging above my head. I snapped the picture and didn't think anything of it, but when I pulled it up on my computer I was totally impressed with it. I'm expecting a phone call from National Geographic anytime now. Ha.

Kind words from a stranger

It's always nice to hear a compliment. Even better when it comes from someone you've never met at a time when it's most unexpected. My boss forwarded this email to me yesterday:

"Wanted to pass along some kind words about Raechelle Clark. I first emailed Raechelle in May or June of last year, since I was looking for a B&B recommendation for my wife's birthday. She replied back within hours... On Monday of this week, I emailed Raechelle again for another recommendation...Raechelle was willing to help once again, even though she said she's in a different position. As I said in my last message to her, I know she'll do well since her Customer Service skills are excellent. I've been in CS for years, the last time with HP and at this point, I know what good CS is and what it isn't.

She is a definite asset to your organization, which I'm sure you already know and obviously likes what she does. It has been an absolute pleasure dealing with her these past two years and I hope that you will recognize her in some special way, since to quote one of our favorite Tina Turner songs, 'She's simply the best!'."

Wow. What a nice letter from someone who I will probably never meet. It feels good to know that I impressed him enough to have him take the time to quote Tina Turner. I'm just going to go ahead and give myself a little pat on the back. And then maybe go home and eat ice cream - afterall, that's what my mom used to do when I got straight A's. This is kind of the same.

Be grateful

Take a minute today and think of everything that you wish you could change about your life. A better job, a boyfriend, get rid of the clunker in your driveway, take a vacation, hope that you won't be bothered by an irritating family member, be skinnier, taller, have curly hair. Take all of that...think it through, and then spend a good 15 minutes and read the article below. Have a box of kleenex nearby. You'll need a hand to hold, a shoulder to cry on, and a pair of arms to wrap around you when you're done.

The Article.

Now think of everything important in your life that you would be lost without. Your parents. Grandparents. Legal guardian. Caretaker. Whoever it is, thank them for loving you from the moment you were born. And count your lucky starts that this article wasn't written about you. It's scary to think that there are probably other children suffering just the same who won't ever be saved.

Sorry for the downer today, but I think too many people take life for granted. I know I do.